Are JR and PA flawed after all

[Tocchet.A.Hockey.God]

Disclaimer, things I am about to say are my opinions and you might not agree with them. This is a forum of discussion and I am just looking at the other side of that discussion.

 

JR and PA have made this team as much of their own as they could. But the truth is the guys leading this team where already here before him (Miller 1st in team scoring and 5th over all league wide. Pettersson 10th overall in league scoring, Hughes 13th overall scoring and 1st in defense scoring league overall. Boeser 1st in team goals and 7th overall. All acquired by Benning not the current management) 

 

JR and PA acquisitions 

 

1st give credit where credit is due they brought in Tocchet as their coach. Some of the success I contribute to his coaching style of accountability and and some of the success I contribute to the players themselves maturing and coming into their prime. I defiantly have to credit Tocchet on getting our PK out of the league basement. 

 

2nd, I'm going to look at the 5 biggest moves this Management has made so far in terms of 2 trades and 3 signings

 

Let's start with the Miller signing. IMO this signing has been and will be good going forward. Miller is 1 of if not the best value contracts in the league as of today. Which leads us to the Horvat trade. 

 

The Horvat Trade. They Traded Horvat for a 1st and then used the first to get Hronek. IMO this trade has so far turned out well for the Canucks filling a major role on that right side of our defense. JR and PA looked at the team and allocated the Cap they had and made a decisive decision by trading the former Captain to fill a massive hole. This was a great cap allocation decision, allocating cap space from the forward spot to defense. This trade will be determined in the future based on what Hronek signs for and what he does for the team in the future.

 

Which leads us to the Lindholm trade and Kuz signing, the Canucks have had a glaring hole in their top 6 forward group for much of the season. This management group thought they had something special in Kuz and EP40 pairing but Kuz didn't live up to the contract JR and PA signed him to. Luckily this Contract didn't sink the ship as it would have in years past due to our top players playing as they have. I contribute a lot of EP40 inconsistent play this season to the lack of effort or skill of his linemates this season. Lindholm was then trade for to get the Canucks out of a bad contract and acquire a top 6 forward for EP40 to play with. It cost the team a 1st round draft pick and 4th possible a 3rd as well. IMO this trade has not worked out as well as I believe the Management wanted. It has not kick started EP40 and the 1st line. I believe it will not in the future as I believe Lindholm's game is more geared to defense over offense (and yet Lindholm is some how currently -5 on this team) and that line is being held together currently by Hoglander play with EP40 (another of Benning's players). The good part of this trade is that they did remove the last year of Kuz's contract and Lindholm is not signed past this season. Is that worth a 1st and/or 4th/ 3rd I say no unless we win the Cup. 

 

Lastly we don't just have 1 glaring hole in our top 6 we have 2 and this is directly the result of JR and PA signing his name is Mikheyev and his cap hit is $4.75 million the worst part is he is signed for 2 more years and has a M-NTC. So far he has 10 goals and averaging only 14.25 mins a game. The worst part is people are already making the excuse at least he is good defensively sounds to me like "he is good at doing the little things" argument.  

 

Final thoughts,

 

This Management in the time that it has been here has done some good things but they are not as flawless as some would have you believe. This management has cost this team valuable cap space in a player whose cap hit is $4.75 million and is trending in the wrong direction which gets worse because he has 2 years left on that contract and a M-NTC at this point we are stuck with him or will have to pay a huge price in assets to ride ourselves from him. Which is problematic because the Canucks just had to pay a steep price to rid themselves of Kuz's contract and acquired a guy who doesn't seem to be helping fix the issues the Canucks have.

 

Of coarse time will tell how things will unfold and all of these issues won't matter if the Canucks win a Cup this year. But if they don't there will be much to watch from this management group and I believe the good will they have come to earn could deteriorate just as quickly as it came if they begin to repeat the same mistakes of the past Management group and the Canucks go into years of re-tooling this time making the playoffs but with no success to show for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tas]

do you feel better now? what's your point?

[Jeremy Hronek]

I still think a line of

Mikheyev-Lindholm-Suter would have some practical use for us as an elite shut down line that can take on tough defensive match ups and potentially counter/score.  
 

Let the Lotto line and Garland line produce primary and secondary offense. 
 

Miller-Pettersson-Boeser

Mikheyev-Lindholm-Suter

Hoglander-Bluegar-Garland (until DJ comes back)

[Drakrami]

Why are you being captain obvious? No GM is perfect. Winning games, specific players doing well or not depends on a lot of factors like chemistry. For example, Horvat is a decent player, but after we traded him away we actually played better. Pittsburgh cant even make the playoffs after adding Karlsson this year, they are actually playing worse than last year. Tampa Bay's GM winner of 2 Cups, and looks to most people to be a pretty good pro scouter, spent a whole year of draft picks to get Jeannot, in what looks like a huge bust. 

 

Some times good trades just dont work out. Or doing more actually makes the team play worse. It's weird, but that's hockey. 

 

 

[Sneakystink]

They've done a pretty good job I'd say putting lipstick on a pig. Just my opinion 

[Phil_314]

Miller and Hronek trades should be viewed as wins for the reasons you brought up.
Just discussing Lindholm and saying that the trade hasn't exactly worked out as planned makes for an obvious statement, though just ridding Kuzmenko and his extra year is a win too, not to mention adding another two-way RH center in Lindholm who we might re-sign yet (and Kuzmenko's been a scratch these past couple games which says something about how much farther his play has dropped).  No one could've seen Mikheyev's drop, but just like with Boeser and Garland I'm hoping we don't just dump him since I believe he can likewise recover (hope it's not injury-related).

[CanucksFan26]

I wasn’t a fan of the Lindholm deal from day 1 because I felt we overpaid but this team has seemingly lost a ton of chemistry since the trade. Lindholm doesn’t really fit anywhere and if he walks in the offseason it’ll be atrocious. He’s gonna command big money too which sucks. I think we dug ourselves a hole. That said, I have no issue with the management group and I don’t really see much point to your post. Every gm will have misses. 

[kilgore]

I don’t know one human being who is not flawed in some way

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I’m not, but I’m an alien

[Canuck You]

[DownUndaCanuck]

They've done some good and bad. The retooling of the defence was brilliant and a big reason we've done so well. Getting big, tough guys like Cole, Zadorov and Soucy were great acquisitions. The new coaching staff has obviously done really well (so far), but it's still early days and they can't be judged until the season's finished. Of course the Hronek/Bo trades were massive and look good so far.

 

Now the trade deadline is a big moment for them. So far the Lindholm trade doesn't look good, but of course we'll have to wait to see how it impacts us in the playoffs. We're 0.500 since the trade. I never like a top team acquiring another star at the TDL - it throws everything out of whack. We've already got such good chemistry up front, we didn't need to add another star center and now Lindholm looks lost in our top-6 so he's playing on a third line which is embarrassing for everyone.

 

At the TDL usually cup winners just acquire some nice depth guys on relatively small deals, they don't make big splashes. Look at what Dallas just did - a couple of 2nds essentially for Tanev at 1M. That is a cup-winning deal. 

 

All we really needed was say a middle-6 winger and a depth defenceman. We already had the top offence in the league and best PP. Now we've made a mess of that. We should be making shrewd small savvy deals, not big flashy ones.

 

The best example is the 2011 Canucks team - we had a roster of stars, and we go out and acquire Higgins and Lapierre. Perfect moves at the perfect time to give us a solid 3rd line and some grit and depth going into the playoffs and boy were they huge for us.

[Sativika]

No NHL Head Honchos are flawless. They're bound to make questionable decisions. It's just a part of the job. Trades, acquisitions, are made for cap reasons, depth, positional need.

 

In the case of Lindholm's acquisition, it was a combination of unloading cap via Kuzy for a positional need of a right shot centre in Lindholm, of which we had none. Give it time. If we sign him, then he'll have a full training camp with us to get things right.

 

We're still in a position to obtain a couple of more players who could help the cause. It's too bad we couldn't snag Tanev, but I'm sure JR/PA are plugging away at doing something.

[DrJockitch]

People think there is a formula to success that some GMs toss out. 
‘The margins between good and bad teams are very small and often has more to do with personality and fit.

Benning left some pieces sure, pieces you get for being really bad for a decade. Less pieces than we should have had given the situation.  
PA has done magic in a flat cap world. The changes he has made are remarkable in the flat cap world. 
Pretty much everything he has done has worked out or he has moved on from the player when they don’t fit. 
‘Is it short term stimulus with some high costs down the road, yes absolutely but after a decade of awful and with one of your best players unsigned because of our history of awful, he didn’t have much of a choice and when Q is putting up a year like this you need to push.

[IBatch]

3 hours ago, DownUndaCanuck said:

They've done some good and bad. The retooling of the defence was brilliant and a big reason we've done so well. Getting big, tough guys like Cole, Zadorov and Soucy were great acquisitions. The new coaching staff has obviously done really well (so far), but it's still early days and they can't be judged until the season's finished. Of course the Hronek/Bo trades were massive and look good so far.

 

Now the trade deadline is a big moment for them. So far the Lindholm trade doesn't look good, but of course we'll have to wait to see how it impacts us in the playoffs. We're 0.500 since the trade. I never like a top team acquiring another star at the TDL - it throws everything out of whack. We've already got such good chemistry up front, we didn't need to add another star center and now Lindholm looks lost in our top-6 so he's playing on a third line which is embarrassing for everyone.

 

At the TDL usually cup winners just acquire some nice depth guys on relatively small deals, they don't make big splashes. Look at what Dallas just did - a couple of 2nds essentially for Tanev at 1M. That is a cup-winning deal. 

 

All we really needed was say a middle-6 winger and a depth defenceman. We already had the top offence in the league and best PP. Now we've made a mess of that. We should be making shrewd small savvy deals, not big flashy ones.

 

The best example is the 2011 Canucks team - we had a roster of stars, and we go out and acquire Higgins and Lapierre. Perfect moves at the perfect time to give us a solid 3rd line and some grit and depth going into the playoffs and boy were they huge for us.

One thing adds value to the Lindholm trade , is we got clear of another year of Kuzmenko, who really wasn't willing to play Tochett's system,  and gave him an opportunity, to play with a quality player like EP (and vice versa).   If he and the team flops,  the worst case is there's always next year to try again, or pivot somehow.  Also, have seen this the biggest UFA (Horvat, Kane, Girouix, Pavelski) comes in and has mixed results.    Usually it's good to add depth, and sometimes that player re-signs. 

 

  As for EP, well he's not getting Brock.   And for all the flak Brock received, it's great to see him have a resurgence.    Allvins  moves, seem  to be geared towards finding EP linemate, and winning a cup.   Creating a winning roster (fixing the D-corps),  and creating a culture of accountability (which is a tough one for EP right now i'm sure, as well as Allvin and Tochett).   His contract is a distraction, can't fault management for not providing EP with what he wants.   Now it's a bit of a distraction (his next contract),  and likely will be for awhile yet.   Before Horvat was a bit of a distraction,  then Kuzmenko was a bit of a distraction.   Allvin definitely has a finite amount of patience.     Whoever leaked the contract number ... have to wonder if that was deliberate by the management.    It would be a cold calculated move if true.    From where i'm sitting, a lot of the astute tactical things since Allvin came in,  has been to create space for EPs next contract, and create a "winning" team, culture.   

 

The OEL buyout, and aside from QHs, a completely new d-core.   A bit of a puppet master when it comes to shaving cap along the edges, the Stillman trade, the Horvat trade, the Miller signing, the Beau trade,  Soucy signing.  If this is what we are to expect going forward, sign me up for more of it.    Our team's biggest struggles so far this year, was after long road trips/Soucy out (win one lose one).   And solved by adding Zadorov.    Lindholm could be the first bad move, the worst that can go, is Kuzmennko's cap is available next season.    Won't be able to judge that, until we find out how that's spent. 

 

As for Lindholm.  Takes time to adjust.  EPs -4, 13 points since he's arrived, worst stretch of hockey for him all season too.     Tochett is doing a blender now, both to get things back on track, and find his line combo's for the playoffs.   Bains is a boon.  Another player that might stick, which is great, our fourth line got better as a result (once Joshua is back, pretty sure Bains is staying).    Depth allows for this.    Somehow, we lost Horvat, gained Hronek, and added a center whose history is awfully similar.    We needed another top six player, and Kuzmenko just wasn't it.     It does look like we need yet another one now,  lots of hockey left for Lindholm to settle in though.   Pretty sure as soon as Joshua is back,  Lindholm is back with EP, probably sooner. 

 

Edited February 29 by IBatch

[DownUndaCanuck]

I think obviously PA and JR have done more good than bad. They came into a team which was a steaming mess, but also had a very solid core put together and we were just not using it properly. The same goes for JB. As many terrible trades and signings that he made, he pulled Pettersson and Hughes out of thin air and had people questioning him about taking Petey over Glass/Middlestadt. You have to give him credit for those draft picks. Then of course he made a mess of the team (Myers, LE, OEL).

 

Looking at PA so far, he's surprisingly aggressive. He started off quite passive, didn't tamper with our team too much, got BB in and with an identical team to JB's reign we did quite well. Then we started to suck big time and PA got aggressive and made lots of trades to change the identity of the team to a much tougher, gritter, pressure-based one. Again, it worked really well. The Hronek and Bo trades were big, aggressive deals. They kind of worked out in our favour. Hronek obviously was a slam dunk. The Bo deal...if we look back, I'd say the Islanders must be pretty happy. We got Beauvillier who was trash and essentially a cap dump, Raty who still hasn't made the jump to the NHL (but looks good so far this season...but still, not an NHLer...) and a first which we flipped. Got to make you wonder - what if we just dealt with Detroit directly - Bo for Hronek ++?

 

Regardless, those trades shaped our current team, but PA didn't do much else apart from getting a solid coaching structure behind our already-developed stars. JB would have still been in charge if he had a good coach behind this team but he couldn't muster it up and made a mess of our coaches. PA comes in and gets guys he knows who are successful and they do the job well.

 

Now is a different era - we're going into a cup run for the first time in forever, so different trades are to be made. Really we should be complementing our already fantastic team, not trying to build it. Rentals and depth guys are the name of the game, we didn't need to acquire yet another star. Obviously the Lindholm trade is still in very early days, but we're 12 games in and only have 20 regular season games + whatever 4-25 post-season games left, so you could argue a third/quarter of the trade is done and we're already losing it.

 

Still, on the whole, PA and JR have done well - we're a winning/top team in the league. A lot of this has come down to the coaching staff and depth acquisitions, our star core was already in place so can't credit them for that, but you can credit them for getting the coaches to use them properly.

 

I'm still sceptical about Lindholm as he hasn't produced for us, and as great as Zadorov has been at times, he can be a real liability defensively and physically too, so we have to take his solid play with a pinch of salt. He was the second best player on the ice in a massive matchup against Boston and destroyed their stars, but then took some dumb penalties and got walked by a 4th liner against Pittsburgh.

[timberz21]

Guess what, nobody is perfect!  Of course JR and PA will make mistakes.

 

True that the core what brought up under the Benning regime, but rough gems is not as valuable as polished gem.  Benning didn't know what to do with them, as oppose to JR who has a reputation of taking a contending team to a championship one.

[Alflives]

We had the Great Gillis as GM during our best era. We have JR/PA currently leading this great club. In between we had a Moran. 

[Ghostsof1915]

Mike "I can't draft to save my life" Gillis.

Another busteroo GM.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

1 hour ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

Mike "I can't draft to save my life" Gillis.

Another busteroo GM.

 

[HorvatToBaertschi]

13 hours ago, Tocchet.A.Hockey.God said:

Disclaimer, things I am about to say are my opinions and you might not agree with them. This is a forum of discussion and I am just looking at the other side of that discussion.

 

JR and PA have made this team as much of their own as they could. But the truth is the guys leading this team where already here before him (Miller 1st in team scoring and 5th over all league wide. Pettersson 10th overall in league scoring, Hughes 13th overall scoring and 1st in defense scoring league overall. Boeser 1st in team goals and 7th overall. All acquired by Benning not the current management) 

 

JR and PA acquisitions 

 

1st give credit where credit is due they brought in Tocchet as their coach. Some of the success I contribute to his coaching style of accountability and and some of the success I contribute to the players themselves maturing and coming into their prime. I defiantly have to credit Tocchet on getting our PK out of the league basement. 

 

2nd, I'm going to look at the 5 biggest moves this Management has made so far in terms of 2 trades and 3 signings

 

Let's start with the Miller signing. IMO this signing has been and will be good going forward. Miller is 1 of if not the best value contracts in the league as of today. Which leads us to the Horvat trade. 

 

The Horvat Trade. They Traded Horvat for a 1st and then used the first to get Hronek. IMO this trade has so far turned out well for the Canucks filling a major role on that right side of our defense. JR and PA looked at the team and allocated the Cap they had and made a decisive decision by trading the former Captain to fill a massive hole. This was a great cap allocation decision, allocating cap space from the forward spot to defense. This trade will be determined in the future based on what Hronek signs for and what he does for the team in the future.

 

Which leads us to the Lindholm trade and Kuz signing, the Canucks have had a glaring hole in their top 6 forward group for much of the season. This management group thought they had something special in Kuz and EP40 pairing but Kuz didn't live up to the contract JR and PA signed him to. Luckily this Contract didn't sink the ship as it would have in years past due to our top players playing as they have. I contribute a lot of EP40 inconsistent play this season to the lack of effort or skill of his linemates this season. Lindholm was then trade for to get the Canucks out of a bad contract and acquire a top 6 forward for EP40 to play with. It cost the team a 1st round draft pick and 4th possible a 3rd as well. IMO this trade has not worked out as well as I believe the Management wanted. It has not kick started EP40 and the 1st line. I believe it will not in the future as I believe Lindholm's game is more geared to defense over offense (and yet Lindholm is some how currently -5 on this team) and that line is being held together currently by Hoglander play with EP40 (another of Benning's players). The good part of this trade is that they did remove the last year of Kuz's contract and Lindholm is not signed past this season. Is that worth a 1st and/or 4th/ 3rd I say no unless we win the Cup. 

 

Lastly we don't just have 1 glaring hole in our top 6 we have 2 and this is directly the result of JR and PA signing his name is Mikheyev and his cap hit is $4.75 million the worst part is he is signed for 2 more years and has a M-NTC. So far he has 10 goals and averaging only 14.25 mins a game. The worst part is people are already making the excuse at least he is good defensively sounds to me like "he is good at doing the little things" argument.  

 

Final thoughts,

 

This Management in the time that it has been here has done some good things but they are not as flawless as some would have you believe. This management has cost this team valuable cap space in a player whose cap hit is $4.75 million and is trending in the wrong direction which gets worse because he has 2 years left on that contract and a M-NTC at this point we are stuck with him or will have to pay a huge price in assets to ride ourselves from him. Which is problematic because the Canucks just had to pay a steep price to rid themselves of Kuz's contract and acquired a guy who doesn't seem to be helping fix the issues the Canucks have.

 

Of coarse time will tell how things will unfold and all of these issues won't matter if the Canucks win a Cup this year. But if they don't there will be much to watch from this management group and I believe the good will they have come to earn could deteriorate just as quickly as it came if they begin to repeat the same mistakes of the past Management group and the Canucks go into years of re-tooling this time making the playoffs but with no success to show for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Horvat trade doesn't rely whatsoever on how much Hronek signs for. Here are the facts. Not only did we get Hronek, but we also got Raty and Zadorov (thorugh Beauvillier). Not only that, but the depth we acquired on our d corps has freed Hughes to play the best hockey of his career, and some of the best hockey a dman has played in the last 30 years. 

 

Hronek has already provided more value to the Canucks in 1 full season, than Bo ever did. I know that sounds harsh, but it's absolutely true. Horvat had one good run for us, and that was the bubble playoffs. 18 fucking games in a 8 and a half year span with us where he was lights out. That's it. Now take into account the incredible distraction he was in the locker room... addition by subtraction. 

 

The Islanders know they fucked up, and their GM already commented that he signed for too much and too long. Now they're out of the playoffs and 7th in their division. Don't let the "Bo knows OT" media posts twice a year make you think that he's an impactful player. He coasts harder and harder every year. 

[RJCF96]

Every GM or NHL team management have made atleast a few mistakes throughout their career/tenure. Whether it is a contract they wish they didn't hand out, a trade they shouldn't have made or a player they missed at the draft table, these mistakes happen and if you look through every GM's track record over their career, you can easily identify which moves were mistakes.

 

Here is the difference that separate the Good GMs from average or mediocre GMs in the league.

 

1). The decision making process. A right process does not guarantee a good result, but a bad process will lead to bad results over time. If the decision was made after consultation with other staff, following a correct set of protocol/procedure, and it still result with a mistake, these stuff happens and having the right process, and right staff in their roles are really important.

 

2). Recognition of the mistake. Even a right process could lead to bad result. Recognise the mistake and review the decision making process and see if at any point at any part of the decision making process that could be improved to prevent such mistake from happening again. Identify what went wrong, and not make the same/similar mistakes in the future. This is difficult, because you can't let one mistake prevent you from making similar moves in the future, because under different circumstances/different players involve, the result can be drastically different.

 

3). Problem solve. After a mistake is made, how do you solve this problem. Is it buying out the contract? Is it making changes to some of your scouting or other management staff? This also means recognising an opportunity to correct the mistake. For example, you may not be able to move out this contract at this time, but keep your eyes open when the opportunity arises and get on with the move if it happens.

 

Being a GM is very complicated job, and the best GMs are the ones who put the right people in the right place and work well as a management team. I believe in the management team established by PA and JR. This means, even if they make mistakes, I have faith in them in correcting them and not have it compound like the Benning era.

[Mando27]

I think they've done well considering the mess that Benning left for them. They brought much needed stability to a team that had zero direction, now it feels like there is actually a plan in place.

Edited February 29 by Mando27

[IBatch]

15 minutes ago, HorvatToBaertschi said:

The Horvat trade doesn't rely whatsoever on how much Hronek signs for. Here are the facts. Not only did we get Hronek, but we also got Raty and Zadorov (thorugh Beauvillier). Not only that, but the depth we acquired on our d corps has freed Hughes to play the best hockey of his career, and some of the best hockey a dman has played in the last 30 years. 

 

Hronek has already provided more value to the Canucks in 1 full season, than Bo ever did. I know that sounds harsh, but it's absolutely true. Horvat had one good run for us, and that was the bubble playoffs. 18 fucking games in a 8 and a half year span with us where he was lights out. That's it. Now take into account the incredible distraction he was in the locker room... addition by subtraction. 

 

The Islanders know they fucked up, and their GM already commented that he signed for too much and too long. Now they're out of the playoffs and 7th in their division. Don't let the "Bo knows OT" media posts twice a year make you think that he's an impactful player. He coasts harder and harder every year. 

A tad harsh given he's actually doing ok this year.   For a boatful of cash.    Horvat also had a good playoff series as a rookie.   As far as the bubble goes, he had a great series against St.Louis, the rest was good/mediocre.  Good/mediocre was his cross to bear, if things worked out extraordinarily well post 2014.    

 

It's valid that there is some worry this team is just a flash in a pan.     Won't know until next season.   So far aces though.   Trading Horvat was a breath of fresh air.   Like to see Allvin go on a 2-3 year run of Quin like moves.   If he can manage that, be prepared to lose some fan favourites along the way. 

Edited February 29 by IBatch

[CanuckMan]

Mikheyev definitely turned out to be a dud. Lindholm the jury is still out on. We will know soon enough how it goes with him. One thing is for sure our faceoffs are doing much better with him in the lineup.

 

You can pick and choose what to mention. But other key signings by this management include the entire D core. Soucy, Cole, Zadorav. All great dmen. Joshu, Bluegar, Suter, Lafferty, all great forwards. Even Bains was picked up by PA I believe ? 

Lots of great moves. 
 

Even if Lindholm hasn’t produced it’s not like kuzmenko was producing. I’d rather have the center depth.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

16 minutes ago, IBatch said:

A tad harsh given he's actually doing ok this year.   For a boatful of cash.    Horvat also had a good playoff series as a rookie.   As far as the bubble goes, he had a great series against St.Louis, the rest was good/mediocre.  Good/mediocre was his cross to bear, if things worked out extraordinarily well post 2014.    

 

It's valid that there is some worry this team is just a flash in a pan.     Won't know until next season.   So far aces though.   Trading Horvat was a breath of fresh air.   Like to see Allvin go on a 2-3 year run of Quin like moves.   If he can manage that, be prepared to lose some fan favourites along the way. 

We couldn't afford to re-sign Horvat after the career type year he was having with us.  That doesn't mean he was substandard; only that we needed to spend that cap money elsewhere (like the blueline).  Great move by the management team.

[NewbieCanuckFan]

6 minutes ago, CanuckMan said:

Mikheyev definitely turned out to be a dud. Lindholm the jury is still out on. We will know soon enough how it goes with him. One thing is for sure our faceoffs are doing much better with him in the lineup.

 

You can pick and choose what to mention. But other key signings by this management include the entire D core. Soucy, Cole, Zadorav. All great dmen. Joshu, Bluegar, Suter, Lafferty, all great forwards. Even Bains was picked up by PA I believe ? 

Lots of great moves. 
 

Even if Lindholm hasn’t produced it’s not like kuzmenko was producing. I’d rather have the center depth.

Everyone makes mistakes (are human).  But their overall performance (imho) has been more than solid.